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Centro Gabriela Mistral - GAM
The Centre Gabriela Mistral, GAM, is a cultural center devoted to disseminate and promote performing arts and music. Among many other activities, it offers contemporary drama and dance, as well as classic and popular music space for continuous development and experimentation.
Furthermore, with an emphasis on contemporary photography and popular arts, the GAM houses a range of visual arts. Due to its high demands for transparency, variety, and quality, it is orientated to generate direct encounters between artists and diverse audiences.
Heritage Collection
For the building's original design, several artists were asked to create special artworks to be integrated into the architecture of the building. Unfortunately, most of them were dismantled after the coup of 1973. Some of these works are now being restored in the new phase of the Centre Gabriela Mistral. Several sculptures of Sergio Mallol, Sergio Castillo, Marta Colvin, and Samuel Roman have been reinstalled and the glass roof of the Plaza Central, designed by Juan Bernal Ponce, has been repaired.
Juan Egenaus door, made of wood, copper, and aluminum, is the access to the hall of popular art and the door latches, designed by Ricardo Mesa, have been reused in the theatres. In the Cafe, the lights of Ramon Lopez, Jose Venturelli's mural encourages a hall in building B and the water dispenser of Luis Mandiola provides a small refreshment. Ricardo Yrarrazzal's benches that also work as flower planters are located next to the exit by the Ministerio de Defensa and in the aisle that connects Plaza Poniente (Western Square) and Plaza Central (Central Square). A reproduction of the wicker fishes by the craftsman Manzanito hangs impressively from the roof of the Plaza Central (Central Square). And Federico Assler's Conjunto escultórico was reopened in 2013 but will stay closed during the construction of GAM's second phase, a theater with a capacity for two thousand people.
Gabriela Mistral
Chile’s most famous poet, Gabriela Mistral (1889 – 1957), significantly inspired the work of this cultural center for her love of words, her democratic conviction, and her dedication to education. Born as Lucila Godoy Alcayaga in the small town of Vicuna in north-central Chile, she started writing and working as a teacher and at the age of 15. At 25 she published her first major work, “Sonetos de la Muerte”, which brought her the Chilean literary award in 1912. She worked as an educator in various cities of Chile until, by invitation of the Mexican government, she traveled to Mexico in 1922 to participate in the educational reform and the establishment of public libraries. From this time on, her life was mainly about writing and traveling: she lived in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, until she started a diplomatic career with the government of Pedro Aguirre Cerda in 1932. After many years in Brasil, Spain, Portugal, and the U.S., she was the first Latin American to win the Noble Prize in Literature in 1945. Her most famous works are Desolación, Ternura y Tala and Lagar that was published in 1954. Only three years later, Gabriela Mistral died in New York.